Everyone Loves Butters, Part Three - Kyle Broflovski
by DarkGardenia
Summary: Kyle is angry about everything, and he won't deal with it, instead choosing to push everyone away and let it fester. Luckily Butters and Stan eventually step in to help him figure everything out (with a little help from Eric and Kenny). Kyutters, Style, Stylutters, Stutters, Kyman, Buttman/Cartters.


Kyle Broflovski was angry.

This was nothing new, in and of itself, but never before had he felt so twisted, so perplexed by his own rage. By all accounts he should be happy; He was dating a… well perhaps amazing would be going a bit too far, but his boyfriend, Eric, was sort of perfect for him. To top it all off his boyfriend's other boyfriend, Butters, was absolutely adorable and just the sweetest person you could ever meet. It didn't even bother him that he was, essentially, sharing Eric with another guy, because it just worked so well between the three of them. Perhaps somewhere in the back of his mind he always assumed that eventually he and Butters would share the same closeness. He was looking forward to it.

Then Butters went and started dating Kyle's best friend instead, and it was like the entire world dropped away. So maybe he'd been a bit too wrapped up in his new relationship with Eric and took it for granted that Butters would, in time, come to him. He never expected that in the interim Butters would go to Stan Marsh, of all people. Don't get him wrong, he loved his super best friend to bits, even if they had drifted apart a great deal, but he was so completely… straight. Kyle had no idea that Stan even considered other guys, let alone that he'd ever actually date one. Let's just say that maybe Kyle would've had a lot more to think about if he'd known that particular card was on the table.

So here he was, not exactly alone, but minus one best friend and one potential boyfriend. Or maybe it was two potential boyfriends. That was a can of worms he'd never wanted to open, but now that he knew Stan was interested in men he couldn't help but start to unpack all the complex emotions he'd kept bottled up. It was so much easier when he could just tell himself it was impossible and call it a day.

Eric was, of course, no help at all. When Kyle had tried bringing it up with him he'd just laughed victoriously, claiming he'd always known the two had "big gay fucking boners for each other". His advice to just drop to his knees and blow Stan was less than practical, and overall Kyle regretted ever bringing it up in the first place. At least he was able to get one somewhat useful piece of information out of the whole ordeal - Butters had apparently spoken about him to Eric before, in a positive light. When Eric had let that slip he immediately tried to cover it up, and refused to elaborate, so Kyle would hazard a guess that it wasn't just a casual conversation between the two. This tiny hint, as small and inconclusive as it was, left him feeling like there might be a glimmer of hope.

The logical thing to do would be to talk to them, either both together or individually, so of course Kyle didn't do that at all and instead chose to let his bitterness simmer. He knew he was being stupid, and his relationships with everyone involved were suffering for it. Even Eric, who found it funny at first, was starting to get sick of his perpetual irritation and had told him on more than one occasion to shut the fuck up and just do something about it. He and Stan were further from being friends than ever before, and barely spoke beyond a stiff hello if they ran into each other at school. However it was poor Butters who was suffering the most. The little blonde adored Kyle, leaving him confused and hurt when the red head started going out of his way to avoid him. Up to that point the two had gotten on astonishingly well, and were on their way to the closeness Kyle had desired, before he abruptly cut off all contact.

***

It was lucky that Butters wasn't the sort of person to just let things go when he felt like something was wrong with a friend. It was also lucky that Eric wasn't the sort of person who gave a shit about keeping secrets when they were inconveniencing him, and the second Butters came to him in tears about Kyle's behaviour he spilled without hesitation. Partly because he was legitimately upset to see his boyfriend crying, but also because he was so very over all the drama. He was mildly irritated that he had to reassure a sobbing Butters that Kyle didn't, in fact, hate him and wasn't going to force Eric to break up with him. As if he would ever let anyone control his life like that anyway. There were some guilty feelings swirling around for breaking Kyle's confidence, but he quickly stamped them down. If it meant Butters was going to make a move to end the relationship stalemate then he would take whatever fallout came his way.

Actually pinning Kyle down for long enough to have any sort of discussion with him proved to be the real challenge, and in the end Butters had to go to Stan for help. Stan had opened up a lot more about his feelings for Kyle over the course of his relationship with Butters, so the other was fully aware that they were both in love with the red head. It was only natural that they should work together on this, especially since Kyle was being so ridiculously difficult about the whole thing. It was Stan's suggestion that they trick Kyle by asking Kenny to message him to meet at Stark's Pond after school. Neither wanted to lay a trap like that, feeling sneaky and underhanded, but it seemed to be the only way to get close enough to the other boy to actually talk to him. So when Kenny enthusiastically agreed, also sick of the tension between his friends, they went ahead with their plan.

***

"What the fuck is this!?"

He should've known something was up when Kenny sent him a text asking to meet, being all shady about why and refusing to answer any questions. Though he'd thought maybe he just needed help with something embarrassing or illegal, not that it was a set up to force him to talk to the two people he'd been trying so hard to avoid. Huffing angrily he spun on his heel and went to leave.

"Stop running away Kyle!" Stan yelled, while Butters stood off to the side awkwardly shuffling his feet, "You're acting like such a piece of shit! What the hell is your problem?"

The volatile red head stormed up to his former best friend and jabbed him in the chest aggressively with his pointer finger, "What's my problem!? I fucking miss you, you asshole!"

"Well you've got a funny way of showing it fucktard!"

"Uh, fellas, maybe we should calm down a bit…" Butters spoke up in a quiet voice, unheard by the two warring friends.

"Well excuse the fuck out of me for getting sick of watching you push me away. The only reason you're noticing now is because it's on my terms, not yours." His green eyes were sparkling with unshed tears now as everything he'd been keeping hidden suddenly became raw and exposed.

Stan put his hands up placatingly, trying to diffuse a situation that had gotten quickly out of control, "Kyle, that's—"

"And then I find something else that's just mine, someone who makes me forget that I fucking lost you, and you just come barging in, all stupid and attractive and take that away from me too!"

"What, I don't understand, I… Is this about Cartman?"

"No it's not fucking about Eric, you stupid ass fucker! I'm talking about Butters! I fucking love him! I loved you, and I love him, but fuck me right! Fuck!" Kyle covered his face with his arms and screamed wordlessly into his shirt sleeve, tears flowing freely now, emotions overwhelmed.

"Kyle…" Butters hurried over and embraced the sobbing boy, "Shhhh, it's okay, we love you too. We love you so much. Just cry buddy, let it all out."

"How did this get so fucked up?" Kyle asked in a tiny, deflated voice.

"I dunno dude, we just suck at talking to each other." Stan joined the others, wrapping them both up in his strong arms, "We'll get better at it, I promise."

As he stood there, by the cold pond, warm in the arms of his loves, he started to think that maybe things would work out after all.


End file.
